


Pay It Forward

by Elizabeth Culmer (edenfalling)



Series: The Way of the Apartment Manager [13]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Conversations, Education, Families of Choice, Friendship, Gen, Male-Female Friendship, Ninja, Pre-Canon, Prompt Fic, Slice of Life, Teaching, Worldbuilding, cotton candy bingo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-02
Updated: 2015-10-02
Packaged: 2018-04-24 11:12:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4917373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/edenfalling/pseuds/Elizabeth%20Culmer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yukiko and Iruka discuss educational opportunities and the lack thereof. (Part of the "Apartment Manager" AU.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pay It Forward

**Author's Note:**

  * For [wistfulmemory](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wistfulmemory/gifts).



> This fic was written for [wistfulmemory](http://wistfulmemory.livejournal.com), in response to the prompt: _Ayakawa Yukiko and educating the next generation, please. :)_
> 
> The fic got away from me a little. *twitch* What can I say; education is a topic about which I have Feelings. In timeline terms, this scene probably happens four to six weeks before the opening chapter of "The Guardian in Spite of Herself." (The ficlet is also acting as a [Cotton Candy Bingo](http://edenfalling.dreamwidth.org/747004.html) fill, for the prompt _opportunity_ , because why not.)

"They'd make a decent team, you know," Yukiko said to Iruka after lunch, while Naruto, Shinnin, and Sakura wobbled around her yard, playing tag from unsteady handstand positions.

Iruka turned from his investigation of the rose vines Yukiko was trying to coax up a trellis to shade her building's back door. "Oh?"

Yukiko hooked her feet around the front legs of her deck chair and tilted backward, testing her own balance just for fun. "Naruto's never going to have great precision, but dump his chakra reserves into combat-level ninjutsu and he'll be terrifying. Shinnin has great proprioception and she's unnervingly calm around knives--"

"Her parents are butchers," Iruka said. "She's not great at target practice, but she can carve up a test dummy faster than almost anyone else in the class."

"Huh. Makes sense. Anyway, that's ninjutsu, taijutsu, and weapons," Yukiko said, ticking the disciplines off on her fingers. "Meanwhile Sakura has the control and raw intelligence to do almost any kind of specialist work, assuming she can find a willing teacher. And they're all pretty good at thinking around corners. I wouldn't assign them to infiltration -- none of them are remotely subtle -- but that sounds like a hell of a tactical strike team to me."

In the yard, Naruto hand-walked into a tree and crashed sideways to the ground. Sakura promptly tagged him, then fell over herself, unable to hold her balance on a single hand. Shinnin was facing the wrong way to see them; in her hurry to turn and figure out what had happened, her skirt slipped from between her knees, fell inside-out over her face, and left her effectively blind and helpless.

Iruka raised his eyebrows. "You were saying?"

"Well, in a few years," Yukiko allowed. "They're already better than I was at their age, and I think I turned out all right. Oh! Which reminds me." She let her chair thump back onto all four legs and propped her elbows on the picnic table she'd installed two years ago at tenant request.

"I've been wondering about this for a while, and maybe you can give me an answer. Why doesn't the academy have a catch-up class for civilians? The basic curriculum isn't designed to help kids pick an area of specialization, and most jounin-sensei don't pick up that slack, so unless they get a jounin-sensei whose skills are in exactly the right field, and who cares enough to invest time in training them -- which I did, and I've always been grateful for that -- civilian kids are nearly guaranteed never to make chuunin."

She gestured toward the three kids in her yard, who had apparently given up on tag and were now practicing handsprings. "That seems wasteful. I mean, look how hard they're working, and what they could be with a little help. So why is the system set up to deny them that opportunity?"

Iruka leaned back against the sun-warmed wall of the apartment building and folded his arms. "You're not the first to ask me that," he said with a pensive expression. "Officially, the answer is that the academy treats all students the same. Students who don't work beyond the basic curriculum on their own lack the necessary ambition to be chuunin, which is why they're never promoted. Unofficially, of course clan children have an advantage. They work beyond the curriculum because their parents have the knowledge and motivation to give them supplemental training, not because they're inherently better than civilian children. Even more unofficially, Konoha _needs_ a pool of unpromoted genin to manage the long-term and low-skill missions that stabilize our income, and civilian parents -- or parents who are also unpromoted genin -- are much less likely than shinobi parents to object if their children end up in that pool."

He rubbed a hand over his scar and added, "I can give those parents a list of training exercises, and suggest some chuunin or jounin who might be willing to give a few introductory lessons in specialized skills, but I don't have time to give every child the personal attention they'd need to stand level with their clan-raised classmates. Neither do the other teachers. And it would be unethical for me to play favorites."

Yukiko let her head thump down onto the table and curled her arms inward to shelter her face. "I thought that might be it. Ugh. Remind me again why ninja villages are a good idea?"

"Because otherwise we'd have anarchy," Iruka said promptly. "Also this way civilians and people outside the main branches of the clans have a chance at breaking through, and we can teach everyone that ninja need to work together and retain some humanity instead of being solitary and emotionless tools of their clans or employers. It's nowhere near perfect, but it's a start."

"Right," Yukiko said into her jacket sleeves.

Iruka tapped his foot against the leg of her chair. "It's unethical for me to play favorites, but you're not responsible for all my students. You're already providing a training space, some basic taijutsu tips, and stealth practice when they try to sneak into your office. If you want to do more..." He trailed off into meaningful silence.

Yukiko knocked her head lightly against the table. "Whoever taught you how to apply guilt trips should be terminated with extreme prejudice. Or possibly promoted. Something, anyway. You do realize that I have no teaching background whatsoever, they're not anywhere near ready for genjutsu yet, and it's hard to teach ninjutsu when you can't demonstrate any of the techniques, right?"

"I'm sure it's very difficult," Iruka said, amusement leaking through his attempt to sound sympathetic. "I suggest you learn from Naruto and think around corners."

"I hate you," Yukiko said without heat. She raised her head and glanced at the yard to make sure the kids hadn't fallen into a trap or otherwise gotten themselves into trouble. They seemed to be hanging by their knees from tree branches and throwing leaves at each other -- not the safest game imaginable, but they weren't up too high and they weren't using live weapons, so whatever. She sighed.

"Okay, fine. I'll do what I can on the ninjutsu front," she told Iruka as she stood and began to gather the remnants of their lunch. "But you have to look over all my plans and give me advice--"

"I told you, I can't play--"

"--and when you've made sure I'm not going to screw the kids up forever, you can hand those plans out to any other concerned parents. Even civilians. They'll _work_ for civilians, because otherwise I won't be able to follow them myself," Yukiko finished. "It won't be much, but like you said, it's a start."

"Fair point," Iruka said after a moment. Then he smiled, picked up a stack of empty rice bowls, and opened the building door with his free hand. "But first, let me help you clean up."


End file.
